Fri 8 Oct 2004
Saw Neal Stephenson at Olsson’s Books in Arlington VA. He was giving a reading from “The System of the World: Volume Three of The Baroque Cycle.”. I waited around (ended up at the end of the line of about 70 people) and got him to sign my copy (and book 2 of the series).
Fri 17 Sep 2004
I went to a reading by Susanna Clarke and Emma Donoghue last night, at Olsson’s bookstore in Arlington. Only took me an hour and 20 minutes to get there (drove to a Metro station: ~20 min, then took the Metro to Arlington: ~1 hr). Worth it though, since I like Olsson’s. I haven’t read Clarke’s book yet, but it’s now on the queue. Early in October Neal Stephenson will be at Olsson’s. I’ll get there early for that one. :)
From the blurb on the events page at Olssons’:
Spend an evening with two historical fiction authors appearing together. Emma Donoghue, author of “Slammerkin,” reads from her novel “Life Mask,” which turns the private drama of three celebrated Londoners into a robust, full-bodied portrait of a world–and lives–on the brink of revolution of late eighteenth-century England. Susanna Clarke, a debut novelist, will read from her novel, “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell,” which is an epic tale of nineteenth-century England and the two very different magicians who, as teacher and pupil and then as rivals, emerge to change its history.
Thu 17 Jun 2004
REVIEW BY CLAY STAFFORD
The Fencing Master is a mystery set in the mid-1800s, when Queen Isabel II was on the Spanish throne and a revolution was in the making. There is an interesting analogy throughout between the art of fencing (context), the more symbolic art of love (theme), and the art of political revolt (place). All are subtly tied together.
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